We understand how important foundations are, as they are the structural base that stands in the ground and supports the rest of the building. A weak foundation means a weak building, which means danger for you and your employees. Our foundation solutions are designed through extensive study of not only the design and materials used for the foundation, but the ground below the foundation. Our geotechnical designs are built from the ground up, so we take responsibility for understanding the ground that we are building on. There are many types of different building foundations that will be installed at a variety of depths, which can depend on several factors:

  • Groundwater table – A groundwater table can limit the foundation depth as well as the type of foundation that is used. It is defined as the boundary between the water-saturated ground and unsaturated ground. A water table marks the boundary between pockets of water beneath the ground and the dry surface. This information is included in a soil study.
  • Soil type – Various soil types have different properties that affect their level of foundational support. Rock types, like bedrock, limestone, and sandstone, have high bearing capacities and are good for supporting foundations because of their stability and depth.  
  • Soil bearing capacity – this is important to study because it determines how much weight the existing soil can withstand. Soil capacity is related to the size of footings and the lower the bearing capacity of the soil is the wider the footing needs to be. If the soil is strong, footing may not be necessary, as the soil would be enough to hold the building up. 
  • Frost depth – This is defined as the depth to which the groundwater freezes in the coldest time of the year and helps to determine the minimum depth for many types of foundations. The frost depth, or frost line, varies by latitude. 

Our foundations and floor slabs aren’t just built on the earth, but are created with a lot of the same stuff that you find in the earth, like rock and soil. We carefully study the makeup of the earth and determine how to make our projects and the earth work together successfully. 

Our foundation and geotechnical foundation designs consider strength and stiffness, as well as the distribution of the load, applied to the surface of the foundation. We use the best materials to give you the best foundational support for your commercial building. Our materials offer more strength and resistance to damage from moisture and soil. Whether it be foundation design or geotechnical construction, CMI has the expertise needed to focus on a wide variety of ground conditions, construction methods, and engineering. Our foundation experts can design and execute any solution for you, from STELCOR Piles to load testing to retention systems; we are your structural foundation solution. Contact us today — we look forward to hearing from you.